Free Miscellaneous Topics in Chicago

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  • Take the Mystery Out of Selling Your Home

    Dale Tippett, Managing Broker, DALE D. TIPPETT, Licensed Real Estate Managing Broker

    Especially if you haven't moved for a long time or feel overwhelmed with change, you will learn how to deal with the challenges home owners face when they are hesitant to sell their homes, even though they know that they should. Join the discussion on what to do and how to do it to make your next move less stressful. MORE >

    We'll talk about the process of selling your home, getting help with your stuff, the professionals involved and more... A must for adult children and Baby Boomers.
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  • Personal Safety and Self Defense

    Joe Rosner, Self-Defense Teacher, Best Defense of Illinois

    Joe will tell how to recognize and avoid dangerous situations and how to react to them if necessary. Programs are available for realtors, healthcare professionals as well as the general audience.

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  • Unintended Impact: One Athlete’s Journey from Concussions an Amateur Football to CTE Dementia

    Jim Proebstle, Author

    Tragic CTE Dementia Outcome from Concussions in Amateur Football Inspires a New Book: As an athlete, Dick was revered; yet, success turned traitor as the concussions received in high school and Big Ten (MSU) football led to a world of confusion, poor decision-making, and confinement defined by a wheelchair in a long-term care facility. In his multiple levels of impaired functioning, the opportunity for Dick to “get it”—life, that is—was over. He just didn’t know it. Dick was my brother. MORE >

    Nobody will remember a backup college quarterback, but Dick’s story bridges the glamour of NFL football—its high-profile athletes and its $billion settlement for players with CTE dementia—and the millions of anonymous amateur football players who may suffer with the same concussion-induced devastation of CTE dementia. Unintended Impact covers the drama from childhood to adulthood, including numerous personal and business episodes that serve as warnings that something had been derailed. In 2015, with today’s focus on CTE, lack of knowledge is not acceptable. Yet in Dick’s life, lack of knowledge was just one of the underlying factors contributing to the heartbreak of his tragedy. How many other Dick Proebstles are there?
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  • Elder Mediation

    Karin McNicholas & Dennis McNicholas, Mediation Services

    Mediation allows families to explore mutually acceptable solutions to difficult problems with parents and elderly relatives. It encourages creative problem solving within the private family setting rather than relying upon the legal system to resolve these issues.

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  • Transgender Identity and A Third Gender of the Future

    Melanie Griffis Jones, MA, LPC, ACCTH, TraceSuccessful and Griffis/Jones & Associates

    I have been working as a therapist with individuals with Gender Identity issues for close to 15 years. When I started most of my clients were mature adults who suffered from fear, shame and guilt. They kept this part of their lives as a deep secret, sometimes not even telling those closest to them about their gender issue. Today, with celebrities going public with their gender changes and TV shows and movies featuring trans individuals, I am seeing more and more teenagers "coming out" as transgender. It is almost becoming "in" to be trans among younger people. MORE >

    Years ago when I first started talking to groups about gender identity, there would be uncomfortable murmurs in the audience. Then I stated that everyone in the room knew someone one was transgender but just didn't know that about them. Today, almost everyone does personally knows someone who identifies as trans; either in their own family, at work, or via a friend talking about someone else in their life.

    While I am thankful having a gender identity issue isn't the terrible secret or shame it was 15 years ago, a new concern has surfaced. Having doubts or confusion about gender identity doesn't always mean a person should change from male to female or female to male. Rushing into hormones and surgeries without due process is now causing as many suicides as did identifying as trans 10 years ago. Truly getting to know oneself and how to identify as male, female, non or bi, gender fluid or whatever the newest key word is for those who see themselves as neither male or female, regardless of genital organs.

    My other concern is with those who want to change immediately and unethical doctors willing to go along with that. There are guidelines to follow, there is extensive counseling to work through, and resolving other issues first all need to be part of the process of coming to a healthy place with one's gender, one's body and one's mind. I welcome helping individuals work through all of this and the general population to better understand all the components of gender identity.

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  • Enhance Your Communications Skills

    Karin McNicholas & Dennis McNicholas, Mediation Services

    This husband/wife team has been successfully training individuals, families and groups in effective communications for 12 years.

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  • Safe Communities – Safe Kids

    Dr. Michael Litow, Executive Director, The Education Center

    Dr. Litow addresses keeping schools a place for learning, not fear. He brings basic and reasonable insights into how each person can make a difference in our communities to keep students safe.

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  • Fatal Incident

    Jim Proebstle, Author

    Inspired by the true events of an Air Transport Command aircraft disaster in Alaska in 1944, Fatal Incident reveals the dark secrets of a WW II conspiracy and cover-up of how twenty U.S. military deaths have gone unsolved for over 70 years. The story will attract men and women interested in intrigue, Russian espionage, and heart-pounding drama; as the human emotions and lives of people in love, separated by war, are changed forever. MORE >

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  • Why Some Divorce Lawyers Hate Me

    Melanie Griffis Jones, MA, LPC, ACCTH, TraceSuccessful and Griffis/Jones & Associates

    I am a certified mental health professional professionally trained as a Divorce Mediator. Using my services rather than two attorneys can cut the cost of getting a divorce dramatically. That is why some divorce attorneys don't like people to know about me or my peers. MORE >

    Since over 50% of all marriages end in divorce (and the rate is even higher for 2nd or 3rd marriages) I want to share information about how couples can secure a divorce without spending thousands of dollars on attorney fees and can avoid much of the anger and bitterness that too often results from the disagreements they have.

    It is only in the past few years mental health professionals, rather than lawyers, have been trained in all facets of divorce mediation. I can explain why therapists make better mediators than attorneys. Our listening skills, calm behavior, non-judgmental attitude all are better suited to deal with sensitive issues. Compassion and empathy usually aren't adjectives used to describe lawyers yet they are necessary traits for a therapist.

    Key words like "Free and Equitable" make each divorce different in the eyes of the court. I know the "How and Why" 100% of all issues need to be resolved before filing divorce documents and when it is possible to use one attorney for a nominal fee rather than two - spending far too much of either parties earnings.

    Trained as both a divorce mediator and a mental health professional, I serve as a non-biased, neutral facilitator eager to help resolve areas of disagreement and prepare the Memorandum of Understanding needed to expedite a simple divorce document and secure an Uncontested Divorce. We all have first or second hand knowledge of bitter and expensive divorces. Letting the world know there is a better option is my motivation to speak to your group.

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  • Measuring Results From Training

    Bette Lawrence-Water, Founder and Principal Consultant, Spectrum Strategic Solutions

    Although we all know that training can have many amazing benefits, sometimes it can be hard to prove those benefits and attach a dollar value to training. Some topics, like sales training or time management, might have direct, tangible benefits. Other topics, like communication or leadership, might have benefits that you can’t put a dollar value on. MORE >

    Through this discussion participants will learn about the different ways to evaluate training progress, and how to use those results to demonstrate the results that training brings. Once the training has been evaluated the next step is to modify and updated the curriculum to create a content that is better suited for the participants.

    Presentation Objectives:
    • Understand learning styles and learning cycle
    • Understand levels of evaluation
    • Be familiar with many types of evaluation tools, including goal setting, tests, reactionary sheets, interviews, observations, hip-pocket assessments, skill assessments, and learning journals
    • Understand when to use each type of evaluation tool
    • Be able to perform a needs assessment
    • Know how to write learning objectives and link them to evaluation
    • Be able to write an evaluation plan to evaluate learning at each stage of the training and far beyond
    • Know how to identify the costs, benefits, and return on investment of training
    • Be familiar with the parts of a business case

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